Maori Day

Today we drove further south through the pine forests and kiwifruit orchards into Rotorua which is in the Waikite Valley and famous for the Geothermal Springs. We found a camp site which had 10 of these pools - the temperature ranged from 37-42 degrees - so we spent the afternoon just relaxing in them - lovely! In the evening we visited a Maori village, where we experienced the warmth of the people during an evening of ceremonial rituals, powerful cultural performances, storytelling and hangi feasting - it was like a west end musical - very professional. It ended up with us doing the "haka" - a memory to treasure.